Tubin' Yuba 11-18-05

[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]It's been cool enough we didn't know whether to take tubes or augers to Yuba. Water was still 49 degrees at launch, 7 AM, but the air was a cold, damp 20 degrees, with heavy fog coming off the lake. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The water was up about 3.5 feet from two weeks ago, so we launched easily behind the bridge at the dam. Looks like the lake is only about 8-10 feet from high water. TubeBabe disappeared into the fog as she worked up the north shoreline east of the dam, and I worked along the dam to the bluffs across the lake. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]TubeBabe announced over the walkie talkie that she had got the skunk out of her tube with a small carp. I told her to keep it for cut bait. CP would be proud, but the first fish syndrome jinxed TubeBabe again. That was her only fish of the day.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There were no fish on sonar and none visible in a feeding mode, either on the surface or around the edges of the lake. The minnows have evidently gone deeper. We saw some on sonar as deep as 30 feet. We threw everything that has ever worked for us on Yuba and tried a few new things. Zippo.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I finally got over to the bluffs and rocks across from the launch area and started fishing close in. No fish. I moved out into deeper water and tied on one of my "winner spinners"...single hook flies, pink top, white body, on silver inline spinner. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Several casts later, a couple of bumps and a taker. Turned out to be the smallest bow I have ever landed in Yuba...but healthy and with all fins intact. About an hour later, I had a hard strike, but missed. Cast back out and had a series of light bumps, followed by some back pressure. I set the hook and it was game on. Turned out to be a 21" fat female bow, 4.2 pounds. Pretty fish with no bad fins.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The fog did not lift until after 10 AM, and we still had ice in the guides until then.Encountered another 'tooner. Heard him splashing with the oars several minutes before I saw him through the mist. He did not get a hit before leaving about 11. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]No more fish from 10:30 on. Only one fish caught by the 15 or so "bank tanglers". It was a small northern pike, taken on a crawler.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Water temp reached 51 and the air temp was 46 when we loaded up the tubes about noon. We then drove across the dirt road to Painted Rocks. The gate was open and the ramp has plenty of water, but there was nobody there. Here are a few pics. The shoreline looks good for my style of kick and cast.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Everyone we spoke to said that the fishing has really been slow the last week.[/#0000ff]
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[fish4fish]

Man reports like that make me think twice about fishing yuba, IF i catch a bigger fish it is worth it, but if not it is a bit of an expensive
senic drive.

I caught a bitty bow like that last time i was there it is good to see some natural off spring born and raised in the lake.
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Yeah, when the fish are hitting, their size makes them worth going after. But, when it shuts down, the drive ain't worth it.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I suspect those smaller fish are from the planting of 3" fingerlings early in the year. Even though the rainbows run up the Sevier River, to dump their eggs, there is little "recruitment" (survival) because of the poor spawning bed conditions in the river...no gravel.[/#0000ff]
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[Kraizee_Skot]

[font "Impact"][#ff4040][size 3]Hey I wouldn't be complaining. At least you got to go out and chase some fishies around.[/size][/#ff4040][/font]
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]The only complaint I ever have about fishing is that I do not get to do enough of it. The best time to go fishing is whenever you can...and the fishing is always good, even if the catching ain't.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Marriage is the leading cause of divorce and work is the single greatest cause of "fishing pox"...that disease that comes from a lack of fishing.[/#0000ff]
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[ocean]

I was there friday evening and not a bite!! [pirate] I threw just about every spoon ,spiner even your the ones you gave me TD ,crankbaits ,top water lures, jigged some plastics and nada!! This time last year i was slaying the bows nonstop till ice up.Doesnt look like its gonna pickup anytime soon especially after reading your report on the bows diet.
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[Bigcat]

Tie a brown stick about 1 inch long on your hook and smeer a little bit of green power bait on the stick. Works every time! LOL. I think those fish have an eating disorder!
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Well, I guess it's official. If Ocean cain't ketch 'em, the fishies is officially not bitin'.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Yeah, I looked it up in my log and the weekend of Nov. 20th is the weekend Kent and I met up with you and your family down there last year. You guys had been pounding them almost every day and Kent and I both got about 7 or 8 fish each, in only an hour or two of fishing...between raging windstorms.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Seems like every year is different. At least there is a lot more water in the lake before iceup this year. That should give all the fish a better shot at a good winter and a good spawn in the spring. Maybe they will lift the restrictions on keeping perch by next year.[/#0000ff]
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[Hellsangler69]

I watched Doug Miller last night and they talked about Yuba . DWR was gill netting Yuba this fall and found mostly carp with a few bows and no perch in the nets . So I'm betting they will not change the regs on perch there yet .
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[ocean]

They need to gill net the right areas.I have caught perch close to shore but that doesnt mean thats were they all hang out at.There is not much cover for them on the shoreline but if they went to the perch holes i know i bet they would find tons of them stacked there.Probably even a few walleyes.
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Even in the "glory days" of Yuba, DWR would sometimes come up with empty nets. There were bajillions of perch and plenty of walleyes, but they do not spread out throughout the lake. So, if the nets were not set where the fish were hangin' at the time...no perch or walleye.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]That has always been one of the downers at Yuba. If you can find the fish, you can catch them. But, sometimes they just ain't where you wanna fish. There is not much natural structure. Once the bait schools are located by the predators, the predators just kinda follow the herd, and that can move around a lot. Our key to success used to be to look for schools of small perch and then start fishing, even if we did not see larger fish on sonar. They were usually in the area and would come in to feed. The trick was to know which direction the bait was moving so that we could stay in contact.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I think it will take at least a couple more years of high water, and good spawning, before the perch can be deemed a harvestable population. Hope I am wrong, on the early side.[/#0000ff]
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